Resources
20
Dec
Our latest thoughts and work
- By Vision Synergy
Over the last year, we’ve focused our creative efforts on building and facilitating an online community of collaborative leaders. You are invited to join at Synergy Commons! We will continue to share thought-leadership articles on that site instead of this blog. And, even better, we engage and feature other practitioners of partnerships and networks from across the world.
If you’re interested in our latest projects, events, and news, be sure to follow us on Twitter. We retweet our staff, some ministry and resource partners, and share announcements about new visionSynergy resources and activities.
We pray 2016 was a great year for you and your organization. Together we can do more than apart!
22
Oct
Tree of Life partnership training for oral cultures now available in Amharic
- By Vision Synergy
The Tree of Life (TOL) partnership training has recently been translated into the Amharic language of Ethiopia and is now available for free download.
With the Amharic translation, TOL is now available in 8 languages: English, Amharic, French, Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Odia, and Nepali.
Tree of Life was originally developed several years ago in partnership with Scriptures in Use and the Bridges Training Network South Asia. At the time, there was little partnership training material that would be appropriate for use among the grassroots oral culture churches in the villages of North India and Nepal.
TOL was developed to provide a Biblical foundation for partnership and practical principles that leaders of local village churches could apply as they worked together in evangelism and church planting, economic development, community and social development, and social justice projects. The TOL training format was designed to be easily replicated by participants in their home villages.
In the past five years, nearly 3,000 leaders have participated in TOL trainings in South Asia. Today, hundreds of oral Bible churches are working together to transform their communities through partnership.
After demonstrated success in South Asia, the Tree of Life training and partnership development program is now expanding to Africa.
Visit our media library to download the Tree of Life partnership training in all available languages.
16
Oct
Pocket Guide to Partnership: Now available in Spanish & Ukrainian
- By Vision Synergy
The Pocket Guide to Partnership is now available for download in Spanish, Ukrainian, and four additional languages.
The Pocket Guide is a 2-page summary drawn out of nearly 30 years of field experience around the world.
The Guide outlines the 3 main stages and 15 key principles in the development of effective missional partnerships.
Use the step-by-step process summary to reflect on where you are in your own collaborative initiative – and what pitfalls you might want to avoid!
Use the principles summary as a diagnostic tool to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your own initiative relative to the fifteen factors most essential for partnership success.
Visit our resource library to download the Pocket Guide to Partnership in all available languages: English, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian.
13
Aug
Well Connected book now available in French
- By Vision Synergy
Since its English language release in 2005, Phill Butler’s book – Well Connected – has become the definitive guide to building effective missional partnerships.
Thousands of ministry leaders around the world have purchased print copies or downloaded the free e-book.
Now, in partnership with La Faculté de Théologie Evangélique de l’Alliance Chrétienne (FATEAC) in Côte d’Ivoire, Phill Butler and visionSynergy are pleased to release the French edition of Well Connected.
Four editions of the book are now available: French, Russian, Spanish, and English. Arabic and Indonesian translations are under way.
Download a free PDF copy of the book in any of these languages: French, Russian, Spanish, or English.
01
Jul
Learning to Change the World
- By Vision Synergy
Over the past several years, we’ve collaborated with Bakke Graduate University to develop a graduate-level course preparing leaders for ministry collaboration. Very few Christian higher education institutions anywhere give students tools to build collaborative partnerships; BGU has made this course a signature offering in their core curriculum. (Last year, this course was one of the most highly-attended summer courses ever offered by BGU!)
Since we first developed this course and released it online for free, at least sixteen educational institutions around the world have implemented or adapted it for their students, and there is ongoing interest as dozens more have downloaded the curriculum for further consideration.
12
Jun
Telling the story of partnership
- By Vision Synergy
Our friends at Create International and the School of Cartooning and Animation for Missions have crafted an inspiring four-minute video telling the story of how partnership can accomplish great things.
Source: Create International Taiwan
Via YouTube
This is a true story of how two workers created a partnership that grew to become a global network of multiple churches, workers, and organizations advancing the gospel through collaboration.
What a great achievement for the Kingdom! We pray that this video will educate, inspire, and motivate many toward Kingdom partnerships.
As the narrator says: “Accomplishing the Great Commission in your area can’t be done alone: collaborate.”
PS: You can download your copy of the 720p Quicktime movie here. Also, if you want the Mandarin Chinese version, you can access it here.
While there, please consider donating at least USD $5 to Create International’s GoFundMe account for the ongoing use of these films in hi-definition format—or you can purchase a high-definition version of the video for offline use and training. All funds will go toward training costs for students attending Create International schools.
21
Nov
Count for Zero
- By Vision Synergy
visionSynergy’s Kärin Primuth & Phill Butler were recently featured in a video for a new 6-week small group curriculum from the Issachar Initiative.
The curriculum is called “Count for Zero” and highlights 5 critical areas of focus for fulfilling the Great Commission:
1. Zero languages without the Scriptures
2. Zero people groups without Disciple Makers
3. Zero oral learners without an oral Bible
4. Zero villages or neighborhoods without a Church
5. Zero people who have not heard the Gospel
Kärin & Phill are interviewed in the video for week 5 of the curriculum, which discusses the vital need for intentional collaboration and strategic investment in order to advance the Gospel around the world.
The curriculum is available for free from the Issachar Initiative website:
http://issacharinitiative.org/count-for-zero
03
Sep
The Pocket Guide to Partnership
- By Vision Synergy
The Pocket Guide to Partnership is a 2-page summary drawn out of nearly 30 years of field experience around the world.
The Guide outlines the 3 main stages and 15 key principles in the development of effective missional partnerships.
Use the step-by-step process summary to reflect on where you are in your own collaborative initiative – and what pitfalls you might want to avoid!
Use the principles summary as a diagnostic tool to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your own initiative relative to the fifteen factors most essential for partnership success.
Feel free to download and share!
06
Jun
Partnerships & Strategic Alliances: A Harvard Business School Idea, or a God Strategy?
- By Vision Synergy
We all know that outcomes are a whole lot better when people work together – whether it’s families, communities, or nations. The nightly news reminds us of the consequences of broken relationships – personally and among nations. It’s particularly true, of course, in Kingdom work.
Working together, our witness and service in Christ’s name is always more powerful. He promised that in Psalm 133 and mandated it in John 17:21-23. Problem is that we don’t see many examples of Christians working together effectively – especially over the long haul.
This brief piece talks about the key principles that have emerged over recent years by people working on collaborative initiatives in over 90 countries. Take the principles seriously and you’ll be amazed at what can happen! Ignore them and court a headache at best, a disaster at worst.
Here are eight time- and field-tested principles for Kingdom collaboration success:
24
Sep
Increasing Mission Effectiveness Through Partnership
- By Vision Synergy
Increasing Mission Effectiveness Through Partnership is a new article from visionSynergy CEO, Kärin Primuth.
The article was just published in eXcelerate Magazine, produced by Missio Nexus – an umbrella association of nearly 200 North American mission agencies and churches which have collectively deployed 35,000 evangelical missionaries around the world.
In the article, Kärin recounts her first time attending the North American Mission Leaders Conference hosted by Missio Nexus:
“As a new mission executive, I had the unique opportunity to sit with many seasoned leaders and ask a lot of questions. One of the things that stood out to me in these conversations was how many mission executives articulated similar organizational priorities, yet had limited, if any, intentional partnering initiatives. … The more I listened, the more convinced I became that collaboration is now essential for good stewardship of limited Kingdom resources in our increasingly interconnected world.“
Kärin goes on in the article to highlight different ways that major mission organizations have partnered together in the past few years. She concludes:
“When we set our eyes on building the Kingdom of God, rather than building our own organizations, we will discover that we have so much to gain from partnering with one another.“
Download the article
Download the entire issue of eXcelerate Magazine